Fiction Writing - Blog #3: Story Beginnings

The opening of a story is an extremely crucial part of the text overall.  It is supposed to set the tone of the story, maybe introduce the main protagonist, perhaps also establish the setting, and immerse the reader within the pages all at the same time.  This is no basic task.  In light of these facts, this is why many seasoned writers advise up and coming writers to finish their stories first and add the opening last.

T.C. Boyle's opening to his short story Caviar is very good.  In the opening to this story you already get a feel for how the tone of the rest of the story will feel, you learn a lot about our narrator who is also the protagonist, and Boyle presents you with the setting on the Hudson.  I was sucked into it immediately from the very first sentence when the first thing the narrator tells us is that he never went to college.

The first sentence of your story is just as crucial as the opening itself.  If you manage to draw your reader in at the very first sentence, that in itself is an admirable accomplishment.  The introduction is about providing your readers with just the right amount of information about the story without giving too much of it away.  You want to lay it out for them and show them just what they're about to get themselves into, but at the same time you don't want to weigh them down with too much information that might bore them or spoil the story.  You want to give them a small taste that's going to wow them and keep them reading.

Fiction Writing - Blog #2: Quotation Punctuation

Quotation punctuation is pretty self-explanatory; it's how a writer chooses to format the punctuation within the spoken dialogue of their characters.  Many writers tend to have their own style for quotation punctuation, but there is a set of guidelines that show us the standard for quotation punctuation.

Quotation Punctuation Rules
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp

My chosen author is J.K. Rowling.  Here's a small excerpt from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone when the Weasley twins, Fred and George, first meet Harry:

"Thanks," said Harry, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes.
"What's that?"  said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Harry's lightning scar.
"Blimey," said the other twin.  "Are you -?"
"He is," said the first twin.  "Aren't you?"  he added to Harry.
"What?"  said Harry.
"Harry Potter," chorused the twins.
"Oh, him," said Harry.  "I mean, yes, I am."

This is a pretty basic example of standard quotation punctuation.  Commas are used instead of periods at the end of statements within quotations.  Every new line of dialogue spoken by a different character is given a new paragraph, etc.  Here's a small example from my novel idea Love[s] of My Life of how I present my dialogue:

"Pssssst!"
She turned her beautiful face toward me and gave me that sweet smile, "Hey!"  She took a seat in the armchair next to mine.
"Finished already?"  I asked her.
She nodded, "Yeah.  I just had a couple things to check and a few e-mails to send out."
I could feel her aura wrapping around my body, "What you got to do now?"
"Nothing," she shrugged.  "I have like two hours before my next class.  Didn't you say you had to study?"
"Yeah, but I think I'm good.  I did plenty of studying last night," I lied with a grin.

Fiction Writing - Blog #1: Inspirational Fiction

The films written and directed by Quentin Tarantino are a huge influence on my style of writing, most notably the way I present my characters in their spoken dialogue.  What I love most about the way Tarantino writes dialogue is just how real the characters feel when they speak.  Some of the conversations and comments I heard in his films are things I could definitely hear myself or some of my friends talking about.  A prime example is the scene from Tarantino's Pulp Fiction toward the end when we see the two hitmen, Jules and Vincent, at a diner:


Vincent: Want some bacon?
Jules: No man, I don't eat pork.
Vincent: Are you Jewish?
Jules: Nah, I ain't Jewish, I just don't dig on swine, that's all.
Vincent: Why not?
Jules: Pigs are filthy animals. I don't eat filthy animals.
Vincent: Bacon tastes gooood. Pork chops taste gooood.
Jules: Hey, sewer rat may taste like pumpkin pie, but I'd never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker. Pigs sleep and root in shit. That's a filthy animal. I ain't eat nothin' that ain't got sense enough to disregard its own feces.
Vincent: How about a dog? Dogs eats its own feces.
Jules: I don't eat dog either.
Vincent: Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?
Jules: I wouldn't go so far as to call a dog filthy but they're definitely dirty. But, a dog's got personality. Personality goes a long way.
Vincent: Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?
Jules: Well we'd have to be talkin' about one charming motherfuckin' pig. I mean he'd have to be ten times more charmin' than that Arnold on Green Acres, you know what I'm sayin'?

Pulp Fiction
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/

Reservoir Dogs
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105236/